


picking up the pieces

by callieincali



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: And More Angst, Angst, F/F, a ficlet, but some comfort too, drugs tw, read this if s3 has you dead and gone already, wickoff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 01:12:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13493728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callieincali/pseuds/callieincali
Summary: julia finds kady after penny’s death





	picking up the pieces

**Author's Note:**

> okay so a spoiler pic was released today of julia holding kady and my angsty ass jumped on that so here we are. 
> 
> i wrote this in 3?? hours? it’s ‘edited’ but it’s also 2 am so bear with the typos. 
> 
> but most of all,, enjoy!

Julia almost knew something was off in the atmosphere of the cottage bedroom from the moment she stepped through the door. The air felt still and stale; the calm before a storm— or more accurately in this case, the _eye_ of the storm.

She called out for Kady instinctively, her back to the bedroom as she juggled between securing the lock on the door and clutching the bag of groceries she had grabbed on her way back. Her head tilted curiously when a reply didn’t come immediately, her mind wasting no time to drag her through a million possible scenarios of what could have caused the lapse in response, each one punctuated with the same reoccurring thought that dug deep like a dagger to the chest with each repetition. _You shouldn’t have left her._

“Kady,” she tried again, abandoning the lock and dropping the groceries carelessly to the floor before turning to take in the sight of the disheveled bedroom.

Her eyes scanned the room once, and that was all it took to find Kady sprawled out on the bed, a belt buckle just barely visible from underneath the fabric of her shirt sleeve. Julia gasped and stared in a stunned silence, blinking rapidly as if it could make the sight disappear.

_You shouldn’t have left her._

Julia remembered how to move and rushed to the bedside, a painful intuition prompting her to lock her gaze with Kady’s chest and hold her breath, hoping the unconscious girl wasn’t doing the same. And thankfully, Kady’s chest rose and fell with a shallow breath that forced a heavy sigh of guilty relief from Julia.

“Kady, c’mon,” Julia’s hand found Kady’s shoulder and shook it twice. “You have to wake up.” Her voice itself was quiet and gentle but the tone was frantic and laced with panic that didn’t subside any when Kady only stirred slightly at Julia’s attempts.

Julia cursed under her breath, cursed herself, cursed Kady— but not truly Kady at all— and cursed herself again.

Kady had insisted on being alone, spending some time with Penny to find some closure if any were to be offered. She pushed for Julia to go and help Quentin because magic was still gone and that still needed mending, and Julia simply respected that and left, thinking that maybe her and Quentin could somehow restore magic soon enough that Penny could somehow be brought back with it and quell the burning guilt that plagued her.

But she should have at least attempted to argue, if not refused to leave Kady in a time when she was so obviously unstable. But she did none of either— she was naive and reckless once again. The ever-present guilt stung harshly at that realization.

She brought a hand to Kady’s cooled cheeks, tapping them lightly at first but building in pressure until the sound of the taps grew loud enough to make Julia grimace. Kady shifted again at that, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out in a slow exhale that faded back into the shallow breathing.

Julia took her chance before Kady had slipped too far back into unconsciousness to call out once more, this time shouting the name loud enough to make Kady flinch. The messy haired girl hummed a halfhearted reply— a noise that sent a flutter through Julia’s stomach— raising a lazy hand to scrub at her eyes, but stopping before she reached them and dropping her arm back to her side defeatedly.

“Sit up, Kady.” The words were strained as Julia attempted to pull Kady upright, a task that was only minimally assisted by Kady’s idle efforts of complying. Julia managed enough space between the mattress and the girl’s back to place herself between and secure the position, snaking one arm around Kady’s shoulder as the other hand found her heartbeat and pressed against it, pulling the brunette against her chest.

“God, what did you do?” Julia uttered, her cheek finding Kady’s own to rest against. Julia held Kady in the embrace, listening to the sound of her breathing and the distant _thump-thump_ of her heartbeat until her arms ached under the pressure of Kady’s weight and she shook the girl once again to wake her.

“You need to get to a hospital,” Julia said, still panicked, moving to uselessly pull Kady towards the edge of the bed as if she could possibly get her to stand. As expected, Julia was met with a protesting groan that she replied to with a shaky, frustrated sigh. “I-I don’t know how much you took or if you—“

“‘M fine,” Kady grumbled, barely more than a few incoherent syllables, and pushed away from Julia with a force she hadn’t anticipated, jolting herself from the embrace and falling back against the pillows where she had been minutes before.

And Julia wanted to protest— she really did, and previous experiences had reminded her of the consequences of not protesting— but she had few other choices than agreement, and she definitely couldn’t carry Kady to a hospital even if she wanted to, so she slid down the headrest and situated herself in the space beside Kady.

She would have to wait to deal with Kady until after she sobered up.

Julia flipped onto her side to face the dozing brunette, every nerve in her body still screaming for her to do _something_ , and reached a slow and gentle hand out to rest on Kady’s back. Kady noticeably tensed under the sensation before she ultimately relaxed, either out of disinterest or exhaustion, and Julia wasn’t sure she wanted to know which one was responsible.

And she wasn’t even fully sure of whether or not Kady still hated her, but she pushed that question aside and acted anyway, draping an arm over Kady’s waist regardless of what reaction may have come, pulling herself close enough to hear the steady rise and fall that came with each of the girl’s breaths.

She focused on them, refusing to allow herself the luxury of falling asleep, too, and listened to the in-out pattern for hours, just glad that the sound meant she wouldn’t be failing Kady any further that day.

**Author's Note:**

> it was short, i know, but hopefully it was some sustaining wickoff to hold you all over until next week’s episode (aka the one that the spoiler pic stemmed from) 
> 
> until then, leave me a comment and some kudos if you liked this because i really appreciate them all!
> 
> feel free to come yell with me on twitter @bestbltches or on tumblr @magicianstextposts
> 
> thanks for reading!


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